Chapter 3: Reunion
T: blushes well I'm impressed that so many responded to my request for a beta thank you to all those who offered their services and I'm glad to announce that the wonderful Chaosdragon will be performing this duty and supposedly threatening individuals into reading my fics…her idea not mine! On that note updates are now not going to be as regular as they were if only because there are now two schedules to take into account rather than one!
Warnings are the same with a tiny upping of the slash quota and nope I'm still not a member of Clamp...sob!
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In the years that Fuuma had known Kamui Sumeragi the boy had changed relatively little, he was still a darkly handsome individual who clearly wore the grief of his father's death as some impenetrable darkness within his eyes.
He was smiling a little today though. This rare thing was most likely in direct response to the other one who stood at his side.
The young man was a rare beauty; the short cut to his hair complimenting perfectly the sharp angles of a face that must have been all but feminine to perceive in its infancy. There was enough of Hokuto in the man's features that Fuuma supposed he was a close relation to the girl and perhaps even the mysterious brother that Kamui had mentioned once or twice in passing conversation.
He was also blind in his right eye.
It was something that Fuuma noticed only when the man leaned forwards to shake his hand and something about the injury nagged at him enough so that he stored the knowledge of it away for later perusal.
"This is my older son, Monou-kun, Subaru Sumeragi."
"A pleasure to meet you, Monou-san."
"And you Sumeragi-kun."
"I suppose you are wondering why I have not mentioned him to you before, Monou-kun?"
"Actually I was wondering why I have not seen his face here before."
"I had no wish to see Seishiro-san so weak, Monou-san. I also had no wish to face the pain of being forgotten by him." A deep pain blossomed into the man's one remaining emerald eye as he said those words and Kamui's smile faded away like mist.
"I knew that it was wrong for you to come here, Subaru. All that that man has ever brought this family is grief and heart ache. Perhaps it would be better for all concerned if he had been lost within his fantasy."
"Kamui…" Subaru has paled considerably and as a hand rose for his heart Fuuma feels his blood run cold.
Once he had had a sister, a bright happy sister, who he had loved greatly. Kotori, his dear 'little bird' had lived as fast and free as her namesakes until the day that her tiny heart had simply given up. She too had reacted in such a manner to situations of great stress. She had died through such a reaction. Thus he was at Subaru's side before Hokuto, commanding the man to breath deeply.
"I think Sumeragi-kun and I should go and see Sakurazuka-san alone. Perhaps you two would like to try something sweet, I hear the ice cream parlour across the road from us is excellent."
"Thank you, Monou-san, perhaps we shall take you up on the suggestion." Hokuto remarked as she grabbed Kamui by the arm and dragged him forcefully in the direction of the exit.
"Thank you." Sumeragi-kun remarked after they had left.
"Don't thank me. My sister had a weak heart as well and she always used to say that the fussing she received after a mild attack only helped make things worse."
"When did she die?" It was an odd question for one had seemed so shy and yet Fuuma supposed the man was asking more out of some morbid curiosity than anything else.
"Twenty two years ago…our mother had just been diagnosed with cancer and the shock of it was too much for Kotori."
"I will not offer you empty forgiveness, Monou-san; instead I shall tell you that she would be proud of the man that you have become."
"Thank you." He paused, and then both for professional curiosity and a little of his own, Fuuma enquired:
"How did you meet Sakurazuka-san?"
The other smiled a wistful smile and slowly replied. "Father and I had gone to Ueno Park to feed the birds as we always did on a Sunday. Father decided to treat me to ice cream and after making sure that I would stay where I was for a few minutes he went off towards the nearest parlour.
"I had a minor attack not two seconds after that. Thankfully Seishiro-san had been walking by and he did what you did, calm me and instructed me to breath deep and slow. Father came back just a little after that and drew the conclusion that Seishiro-san had saved my life. He brought him to meet mother and she saw enough of her new friend Setsuka-san in him that she knew this was her son.
"After that I saw a great deal of both Seishiro-san and Setsuka-san, and I grew to care very much for the both of them, enough so that after father died the bright light of their friendship kept me free of most of the grief and misery."
"Her death must have been a grief also,"
"Indeed it was."
Fuuma did not push for any more information after that, but instead allowed Sumeragi-kun time to gather his thoughts. He stopped as they came into sight of Sakurazuka-san's door and enquired: "Sumeragi-kun, has your mother told you why you are here?"
"She said that it might benefit Seishiro-san to see me."
"Did she mention what Sakurazuka-san has made you into in his world?"
"She told me that he thought me her brother but said that I could find out the rest myself."
"I see." It was not really a surprise to learn that she had told Sumeragi-kun such a thing; she had, after all, quite a head for subterfuge and mystery. Not wishing to spoil her setup he resisted the urge to tell Sumeragi-kun about Sakurazuka-san's feelings for his other world self, and instead simply unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Seishiro had been moved up into a sitting position on the bed; his eyes were trained on his wrist bindings . . . and yet it was clear that he was not actually seeing anything at all.
Fuuma had planned to introduce Sumeragi-kun, but the moment that the younger man had seen his friend's condition he had moved to sit at his side.
"Seishiro-san?" He enquired as he grasps for the other's hand.
The sound of his voice resisted with Sakurazuka-san and his gaze lifted and focused to his companion's face. "Subaru-kun?"
"Yes, Seishiro-san, it's me."
"Subaru-kun." The older mans fingers tighten on the hand linked to his and a smile blossomed onto his face.
"Hokuto-chan told me that you did not exist, Subaru-kun…"
"She told you that she did not have a brother and that is true."
"What are you to her, then?"
"Her eldest son."
Sakurazuka-san seemed to be processing this information and then he enquired: "Your bother would be Kamui, would it?"
"Yes." A beet then, "I am sorry, Seishiro-san."
"What are you sorry for, Subaru-kun?"
"I am sorry for not coming to see you before today, sorry that I was not there with you when your mother was attacked, sorry that I could not help more afterwards and sorry that you have to be locked up in here." Sumeragi-kun stated. Ashamed, he could no longer hold Seishiro's gaze and looked down.
Fuuma recalled suddenly one of the notes that had been given to him when Sakurazuka-san had been turned into his care. Sumeragi-kun's missing eye, his familiarity with the man and Kamui's anger suddenly made clearer sense to him and he wondered if, perhaps, this meeting had been a good idea after all.
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"Eat your Sunday, Kamui."
"Mother…you should have allowed me to stay at Subaru's side."
"And allow your anger to kill him, you mean?"
"That is not fair. If you had not insisted that he come here then I would have no need to be angry, and thus no need to worry him to the point of bringing about another attack."
"Is it fair that I should deny Seishiro-kun the chance to be truly happy in this life, Kamui? Is it fair that I should cast away the man who is as a nephew to me simply for one mistake?"
"It was not a 'mistake', mother, it was simply a subconscious expression of the darkness that lies within him." He remarked as he turned to glare out of the window.
She knew, somehow, that today his anger was not simply about Seishiro-kun, but about the betrayal Kamui feels still for her choice to love again . . . to leave behind the sadness of her husband's death and to live. "Kamui, you can not heap all of your anger and hate upon Seishiro-kun, especially when some of the 'misery' you talked of befalling this family has come through my choice."
"It was his mother who convinced you that there was no guilt in forgetting father, his mother who pointed you in the direction of a 'friend' she thought you might like."
"Yet I was alone when I met Kakyo, Kamui and it was my choice whether to see him again or no. My choice to say yes when he asked me to marry him . . . you are always keen to portion blame away from this family, to always see the darker aspects of human nature in all but yourself. Yet, Kamui, you cannot allow that to be always the case. Shijuku would not wish his beloved boy to be so tainted by his passing."
"He was murdered mother! By one he considered friend . . . one he could almost have called brother. Is it not understandable for me to find difficulty in trusting? Especially in those who have hurt this family once before?"
"No . . . it is not wrong. Yet I can not help but believe that no matter the shadows in someone's heart, love will shine through."
"Love?"
"Seishiro-kun loves your brother, Kamui, enough so that the thought of losing him is as death to him." Kamui broached no counter argument, this time. She knew that she had gained a small victory. Even so . . . soon enough Kamui would see the flaw in her logic and he shall again be free to distrust and hate Seishiro-kun.
For the man that the other loves is a fantasy version of her son, one who has most likely been moulded and shaped into Seishiro-san's ideal of perfection.
The true Subaru, the ailing shy and weak man that her son has become, will never meet his ideal. Perhaps Seishiro-kun shall find that loving a fantasy was better than loving a shadow and sever his connection to her child. Perhaps he would betray all the faith and hope that she has placed on him.
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T: As I hope you can tell there is now an undercurrent of hidden stories and big huge twists that shall escape later in the plot…and yes I shall explain why Hokuto still claims the Sumeragi name. Will dance if enough people R+R!